Words: Clive Branson
The sound could shake dentures out of a mouth. The engine cackles as if lined up at a drag strip Christmas tree, so I’m not surprised when Luke Chin tells me the police have stopped him in the past for exceeding the maximum ‘loud exhaust’ violation.
“Fortunately, I had two new mufflers in the trunk, so the cop let me go with a warning,” he recalls.
It snorts to life with a throaty rumble that could be construed as God’s implacable anger. A lick of flame bursts from the chrome mouth of the exhaust and I’m mesmerized.
“Driving it is therapeutic.” That is how Luke describes driving his 1969 Ford Mustang Mach 1. The car, a bulk of Herculean muscle, is painted in a shade of sinister black. “When I bought it, the paint had worn its replacement black from its Royal Maroon, so I repainted it jet black,” he explains.
The Mach 1 received the accolade of ‘performance-oriented’ from Ford’s 1968 marketing campaign as an enticement prior to its release in 1969. The incredible six factory performance options from Mustang in 1969 were stellar: GT, Boss 302, Boss 429, Shelby GT350, Shelby GT500 and the Mach 1. The Mach 1 moniker hadn’t been used since 1959. From 1969, it would be emblazed on racy Mustang GTs until its retirement in 1978.
Housed under its hood scoop is the force reserved for an AC/DC concert. “The first owner blew the original huge 428 Cobra Jet engine (7.0 L). It was replaced in the early ‘70s by Tom Ariel, who balanced and blueprinted a new crate 427 Side Oiler long-block and topped it off with the low-riser style Cobra Jet heads, with 406 3X2 Tri-Power aluminum intake and headers. I drove it for 15 years before restoring it to its present condition.” confirms Luke. “I’ve previously restored a 1971 GTO and a 1971 Monte Carlo. For the Mustang’s alteration, I had a full frame-off rotisserie restoration with the assistance of Majestic Auto. I discovered the hardest part was getting at the header bolts and at the rear driver side spark plugs due to the lack of engine bay clearance.”
The car is a retina-thrasher and, hardly surprising, others have mirrored a similar passion, for it has won over the years 1st and 3rd prizes at the Campbell Ford car show and 2nd at the Sterling Ford car show.
“I have always been partial to Mustangs and it was definitely ingrained in me from an early age, for my father proudly owned a ’68 289 Mustang,” Luke says. “In 1994, I was under contract landscaping, and one day at a residential house, I noticed the car in the driveway under a cover. I asked the owner if I could see it and it was love at first sight. I had to have it. As luck would have it, the owner was interested in selling it.”
We drive to a junkyard so that I can photograph the car to emphasize that not everything old is for scrap. “The car handles okay for a car of its vintage,” declares Luke. “The original style suspension/steering is soft, but the power steering and brakes obviously help enormously.” As we are wrapping up the shoot, I ask Luke if the car has changed him. He grins. “Yes; my wallet is a lot thinner.”
